1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data security. Specifically, the present invention provides a way to secure data that is accessed by a software package pre-loaded on a computer system for a customer.
2. Related Art
Currently, customers order computer systems with their specific images that may contain confidential and proprietary data/information. This could include network related items such as IP addresses, host names, etc. or in some cases templates for forms. This data is typically accessed by one or more software packages desired by the customer. These computer systems can be produced on a production floor via a disk cloning tool such as Drive Image Pro (Drive Image, Drive Image Pro, and related terms are trademarks of PowerQuest Corp. in the United States and/or other countries) or Norton Ghost (Norton, Norton Ghost, and related terms are trademarks of Symantec, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries). Once produced, these systems are then packaged and shipped to the customer's designated locations. If the systems were stolen or lost during shipping, the customer may have some of its information exposed to the outside world. In an effort to protect the data, current approaches require the seller and/or a service provider (e.g., an “installer”) to travel to the customer's site to manually complete the installation of the desired software package(s) and unlock the customer data.
Such an approach is both inefficient and costly. Moreover, various complications could arise at the customer's site for which the installer is ill equipped to handle. In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a solution that addresses at least one deficiency in the related art.